The invention relates to a cutting machine having cutting heads or drums which are rotatably supported on a swivelling cutting arm, with a loading ramp or conveyor extending in the direction to the work face to receive and transport the cut material.
From Austrian Patent No. 380 730, a cutting machine having an all-round swivelling boom, at the free end of which at least one cutting head is rotatably supported, has become known, a collecting channel being arranged below the cutting head for the cut material being connected with the boom carrying the cutting head, such a design of a collecting channel being arranged below the cutting head making superfluous the provision of a loading ramp. In the case of the cutting machine disclosed in Austrian Patent No. 380 728, there are connected to the cutting arm at both sides of the cutting arm in each case one worm conveyor for rearward transportaion, the front end of the cutting arm being in the region of the cutting head. The cut material is therefore transported away by the worm conveyors arranged laterally of the cutting arm, the conveyor worms being surrounded by a housing which is designed to be open on that side facing away from the cutting arm.
Known arrangements of the kind mentioned above are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,966,258, having swivelling loading ramps or conveying means, which may be chain conveyors, in the front region facing the work face. The loading ramp is usually located below the rotatably supported cutting heads, with the result that the material cut by the cutting heads falls on to the loading ramp. In the case of such arrangements it is, however, necessary to take steps to prevent a collision between cutting arm and loading ramp. The position of the loading ramp for the purpose of receiving the cut material is adjusted by displacement of the machine. When cutting a drift, as a rule, the entire machine is therefore displaced, thus simultaneously advancing the loading ramp to an appropriate position.